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About awdougherty

Been enjoying the show and thought the Fargo spoiler discussion was interesting. I personally felt a lot of sympathy for Peggy throughout the show despite her actions, and I especially felt for her in her monologue that gets cut off when the cop essentially tells her to shut up in so many words and then proceeds with his own monologue to define her situation for her. That's what's been happening her whole life, as Rob said, she isn't living her life on her own terms. She knows life is supposed to be more but isn't the sharpest thinker in the world, so she continues to let others define her, even when it comes to figuring out how to define herself.
I never felt Hanzee had the mystical Native American bit going either. He can do the tracking and survivalist stuff you would expect from the stereotypical portrayal. But he also mentions that a bunch of racist white assholes in Vietnam used to force him to clear tunnels and do all sorts of intensely dangerous stuff because he was a Native American. I always took his skill set to be a result of that racist treatment in Vietnam. Racism made him into what he was, in my mind, and then racism took advantage of that when he got back.
I never felt that Mike Milligan was a racist portrayal of African Americans either. He's basically always one of the smartest guys in the room. He knows exactly what he's doing when he does it, so if he affects his speech to borrow from 70's jive, he's doing it like a chess player positioning a piece to set something up a few moves later (maybe three) or to slightly disarm the other person, or who knows. I never felt he did it because some white writers room felt that all African Americans must have spoken like that in the 70s. Milligan used maybe the racist conventions of his time by choice for an end.
I never dug the UFOs, just like I never dug them in The Man Who Wasn't There.
In the end, for me, Fargo's second season wasn't just stylishly handled, it was also one of the most confidently crafted seasons of television I have ever seen. I would put it up there with the best season of The Wire or Justified's second season in terms of craftsmanship. Whether I agreed with the choices or not (like the UFOs), I never felt like I was watching a show handled by someone who didn't know exactly what he wanted and how to get it. I felt that way with season 1 most of the time, but more so here.

Loved hearing more Bloodborne chatter, hopefully it will keep up as some of the hosts progress. Curious if those smitten by Bloodborne have any interest to go back and play previous Souls games (assuming they didn't)?
Apologies for not remembering who said what specifically, but I thought it was interesting that someone on the show was put off by what seemed like Giant Western Fantasy To Your Face! aesthetics in earlier Souls games. I guess I could kind of see how the screenshots I saw before I picked up Demon's Souls might inspire that reaction. I'm glad Chris strongly disagreed, because playing those games makes me see the aesthetic in completely the opposite fashion. What I've always thoroughly loved about the souls games, first and foremost, were the settings. the sense of atmosphere and place they convey always grabs me. The spectacles I encountered were moments of awe punctuating my travels through worlds that genuinely reflected the despair of possibly coming to an end. I don't know of any game that I've played that captured that despair so well. Maybe Mass Effect 3 goes for that in the face of the oncoming alien domination? Fallout maybe? I probably don't have the deepest repertoire to pull from. A lot of games say the world is in danger but then still present a fairly in tact setting. Not the souls games.
I can't claim to get all the narrative tucked away inside these games, so I always make it a point to research the story once I'm done. Maybe the interwebs interpret things incorrectly, I don't know, but it gives food for thought. After playing Dark souls, I did some research and realized the ending involved a choice (I didn't see the way to the other option). Once I got a handle on what the two endings meant, I realized I really didn't like the implications of the choice I made even though in the moment I felt pretty good about what I thought my ending represented. I appreciate the moral ambiguity there.
On top of that, the souls games have some of the best RPG mechanics out there for my tastes, killing a lot of my interest in the Elder Scrolls style of gameplay. I played massive amounts of Oblivion, but that was before I played through Demon's Souls. Even though certain systems may become overpowered, I really love the Souls take on magic, crafting, experience, and leveling. I really dig that the actions of my character are completely my own in a fight and that the stats and crafting progressions then manifest once I've landed a blow. Equipment weight, poise, getting staggered, varied rolling speeds, moves unique to each weapon... All of these choices culminate into a fighting style that really feels like your own. While I love Bloodborne so far, it's a little disappointing to see some of these elements stripped down in favor of steering you toward a general play style.

Apologies, I just googled how to do spoiler tags to hide the part about the European pilot. If I should spoiler tag more, let me know.
Is there a way to tag the whole post as a spoiler somehow for forum filters?
edit: Also, I wanted to agree that the moment Laura's Mom and Dad find out about their daughter's death was pure genius in every way... the writing, performances... all absolutely brutal to watch.

Great first episode and I'm a huge fan of Twin Peaks. I was never into Lynch's work when Twin Peaks was on the air, but my roommate and closest friend from college introduced me to his feature films because he's actually related to Lynch. When I went off to begin my MFA in film production, one of my fellow classmates and neighbors was a massive Twin Peaks fan and upon hearing I'd never seen the show, vowed to marathon it with me in the evenings after classes. It was interesting watching Twin Peaks with someone who was so well versed in both the themes and content... I imagine they might mirror some of the discussions you'll have on the podcast moving forward (a lot of coffee shop talk about those stop lights and the ever present trucks loaded with logs outside the windows of various scenes).
You probably already have this answered in various ways, and I'll try not to spoil anything too badly - although I might - but my understanding was that the Laura Palmer mystery was never supposed to be solved. ABC pressured Frost and Lynch to provide an answer once they saw they had a real hit on their hands and that pushed the creation of the solution in the series. The European pilot I think does provide a concrete answer as well that was stumbled on somewhat accidentally with Lynch spotting Frank Dasilva.
Anyway looking forward to rewatching the show and keeping up with the podcast. Good stuff.